New Delhi: Former law minister and Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party's Chowkidar campaign and said attacks in Uri, Nagrota, Pathankot, Baramulla and Pulwama had happened while the ‘chowkidar’ was in power.
Sibal, who was speaking at the News18 event, Agenda India, stated that the "56 inch chest" theory of the ruling regime was nothing but a "farce."
"What has the BJP done about national security? The journey started from Gurdaspur, then pathankot, Uri, Baramulla, Nagrota and Pulwama. What was chowkidar doing in between? Chowkidar is answerable when there is a theft. If we ask them about a thief, why are we termed as anti-nationals?" said Sibal.
Pointing at an intelligence failure, the Congress leader questioned how RDX brought inside India in large quantities for the Pulwama attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad militants.
"How did so much explosive enter the territory? Where was the chowkidar then? How were the Rafale papers stolen… it was a theft from the home of the chowkidar. Who will answer all of this?" questioned the former law minister.
He refrained from stating who the Prime Minister would be if the Congress comes to power after Lok Sabha elections, but said: "We need to have a strategy for national security. It's not like playing a blame-game with Pakistan. We cannot tag people as anti-nationals. Strategy is determined with future in sight."
Sibal said the Congress is not on the backfoot as far as national security is concerned and that “it is time national security is defined as national interest as the latter is much larger than national security."
"When a child is born, he needs to be protected from bad weather and environment, and is given a good upbringing. No one talks about education and health in country which is in national interest. If you have to do a surgical strike, do one on poverty. That is national interest," said Sibal.
Congress is now heavily relying on the recently announced Nyuntyam Ayay Yojna (NYAY) or the Minimum Income Guarantee scheme where it would give 72,000 to every family which is below the 12,000 monthly income bracket.
However, Sibal tried to dispel questions around how the scheme would be financed.
"When NREGA happened, from where was the income given? Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted it. Today, we are saying we will give minimum income guarantee. Now our budget is Rs 2,00,00,000 crore. Every year budget is hiked by 15 percent. This will become Rs 4,00,00,000 crore in four years. This will help us put NYAY into effect. We have consulted biggest of economists," said the Congress leader.
Sibal also hinted towards the Chinese interference in our neighbouring countries and how the chowkidar has failed to act against it. "Eighty Five percent arms in Nepal are bought from China. They are present in Maldives too and are also going via the silk route to Balochistan which will impact India. There will be a separate vision document for national security in the Congress manifesto," he said.
The Congress leader also aced up attack on the ruling BJP by questioning NITI Aayog when asked if "institutions are under threat in the BJP regime."
"NITI Aayog is no institution but only a long arm of the government. The NSSO is not allowed to submit its data. When there used to be issues with teacher recruitment, paying or other issues, then planning commission used to determine a way ahead. Now NITI Aayog is just governed by the PMO," alleged Sibal.
He also questioned the outcome of the surgical strike, saying India ended up losing more soldiers. "During 26/11, no one imagined how the Pakistanis crossed the Arabian sea. What was the outcome of the surgical strike? We lost another 7 to 8 soldiers with this one," said Sibal.
Before we talk about national security, there is an urgent need to increase the defence budget, he said.
"What is the issue of ‘56 inch chest’? After the Pathankot attack we were not allowed to send our probe team there...look at the budgetary allocation.. what was the capital expenditure for defence?" said Sibal.
About the 2G scam, he cited the lower court verdict to state that Judge OP Saini "waited for evidence but never had one to examine."
"There is the Rafale issue, Vyapam is not allowed being investigated, the Birla Sahari diaries are not being investigated, what about these?" Sibal asked. Predicting the Lok Sabha polls result he said, "arithmetic does not favour the BJP" and that "BJP would not form the government this time."
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